Tag Archives: K. M. Alexander

Rue From Ruin: THE GAME

games, serial story, Tabletop, , , , , , , , , , ,

Hey friends!

This blog doesn’t get much love these days, but I thought I’d at least post something here to let y’all know about a fantastic development.

And it all started here!

After years of writing and revising Rue From Ruin as a serial fiction work, I realized that the fiction’s ending would never match up with my hopes. That’s the thing about conflicting desires, I guess. They– conflict?

Rue sat on the shelf for a few years. Then, around 2020-2021, I started looking into solo roleplaying games like many other gamers and game designers I know. The thought occurred to me far later than it should have: my “work of serial fiction” was actually meant to be a solo roleplaying game. I made some announcements to that effect on social media somewhere, I’m sure. It felt like a REVELATION.

Cover Illustration by Kristopher McClanahan. Logo Design by K. M. Alexander.

It took a while to get started because I was buried finishing up stretch goals for Arium for a long, long, long, long time. I hinted about wanting to work on a werewolf game in a few circles and eventually realized I knew the perfect person to co-design the game with me: Katie Young. We’ve been working on this project weekly for over a year, and it’s ready. So follow along on Kickstarter if you’re brave and don’t mind a challenge.

RUE FROM RUIN is quite the paranormal ride that hits all the beats of why it isn’t good to be a lone wolf. I think if you enjoyed any of the story, you’ll probably like the game. I hope you’ll check it out and follow along on Kickstarter.

-Will

What I’m Excited About: Coal Belly

randomisms, review, writing, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Hey folks, time to take a break from writing and discussing RPG games (and how I like them as creative tools for writers).

Now I’m going to talk about reading.

I try to broaden my reading horizons from time to time. Try is the operative word. When I had an opportunity to read some books indie-published by an author in my writing group that was firmly outside my usual reading coterie, I welcomed the opportunity with perhaps some minor trepidation.

K.M. Alexander’s weird fiction series, The Bell Forging Cycle, has three books so far. I didn’t relish telling a growing friend who gave great writing advice his style of writing wasn’t for me. What if I couldn’t bring myself to read book two (Old Broken Road)? Also, I’ll admit I wasn’t very excited about reading something “self-published”.  All I knew about self-pubs at the time was the worst FUD distributed by two types of sources. Traditional publishers and reviewers with obvious skin in the game continue to rail against self-pubs even today. Also, multiple people I know have read and reacted poorly to something written and published by a person (often their neighbor or family member) who clearly had no understanding of what is actually involved in the publishing process or frequently even the writing process.

It turns out, there was absolutely no cause for concern. I finished The Stars Were Right rarely putting it down over a single weekend. I’ve since read the rest of The Bell Forging Cycle, and I can’t imagine a sci-fi/fantasy fan who wouldn’t enjoy following along with Waldo Bell’s trials and triumphs in the strange yet familiar multi-tiered city of Lovat. It’s such a rich and intriguing world. I could imagine myself visiting Lovat, and I sure wish I could.

The Point–

K.M. has just finished a zero-draft version of Coal Belly, and I’ll be gnashing my teeth and wailing until I can get my hands on it. Coal Belly isn’t a new installment in The Bell Forging Cycle, it’s a new novel with a whole world of fascinating characters, stories, and ideas behind it.

Mr. Alexander can surely explain it better than I:

–REBLOGGED–

Last weekend, after a year and eight months, I finally hit print on the final chapter of my latest novel, Coal Belly. The first of what I hope to be a trilogy. Right now, it weighs in at 190k words, and I expect it to grow. Long time readers know this isn’t the first time I’ve written […]

via So, Coal Belly is Done… Sorta — I Make Stories

I’ll keep this short.

meta, randomisms, TIL, writing, , , , , , ,

15MinuteClock120511300x300

K. M. Alexander posted a quote that struck a chord. For over a month now, my entire writing existence has centered around the idea he recently espoused here.

It works. I sit at the computer, and I say, “For the next 15 minutes there is nothing but writing.” Then I set a timer, and I go. Sometimes I get 350 words of total crap. Other times I can barely force 190 words, and none of them seem great. Other times, I feel like it’s all coming together. I feel like I’m writing something I would enjoy reading.

The other times are starting to outnumber the rest. It’s a good feeling.

Now back to work.

Friday Link Pack 1/29/2016

link pack, , , , , , , , , , ,

Just when I thought I’d done something as haphazardly and last-minute as humanly possible — I’m writing a Friday Link Pack post at 10 PM EST on Friday via airplane wifi in extremely turbulent air bound for snowy Salt Lake City after a long week of strenuous vacationing. Oh well, here goes nothing!

24330292649_70c65447d7_z

As a reminder, because I know you all read two weeks ago and remember, I’m collaborating on #FLP posts with Drew Gerken, who wrote a great one last week. Check it out over on his blog.

WRITE-ING (Note to self.)

So you want to be a writer…
This is a lovely post by Hugh Howey about writing and what it takes. For example, don’t give up before you’ve started. Credit where credit is due on finding this one: thanks, K.M. Alexander!

How To Write Super Sharable Content For Your Author Blog
Yes, I’m coming back to Lauren Sapala again. I saw this one come up on my list yesterday, and it’s pure gold. I’m going to start following this advice once I start writing again in earnest next month! Did I mention that aside from offering great advice on Twitter and her blog, Lauren is a writing coach for hire?

CREATIVITY/INSPIRATION

Bluescreen Launch Series
One of my favorite Young Adult authors, Dan Wells, has been writing a series of pre-launch posts on his blog for the first book in a new series, Bluescreen. Check this one out and if you haven’t read any of his stuff, give it a go.

SCIENCEY

Sweat Puns Galore!
I could write several. More than several. What I can’t do is make this stuff up. Soon we will have wrist-attached sweat analyzers that can detect things like hydration levels, glucose, sodium, and body temperature. Imagine the applications just for diabetics.

GIF OF THE WEEK

Hoping for a landing less interesting than this:

Friday Link Pack 1/15/2016

link pack, , , , , , , , ,

HERE I AM — writing comments on other people’s blogs instead of writing my own posts. I mentioned recently that I’m planning to recommit to posting here in February. Let’s jumpstart that a bit.

It's Alive

Beginning NOW, I’ll be posting a Friday Link Pack every other week opposite this fine fellow. Drew is a friend and a member of, not one, but two of my writing groups. He’s a super talented writer and an all-around fantastic individual. You should follow his blog: Write Brained Ramblings. I would be totally remiss if I didn’t mention that Mr. Gerken and I didn’t come up with this idea entirely on our own. Our fellow writing group member, and considerably more accomplished friend (and… cheerleader?), K. M. Alexander has written 100 (ONE HUNDRED!) Friday Link Packs over the past couple years. As his writing career has put him in a place where many of his readers are now fans and not just other writers, he has passed the torch on to us. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t follow K. M.’s blog. I’ll cheat and link to one of his recent posts below.

Anyhow, here is last week’s installment in case you missed it: Friday Link Pack: 1/8/16

WRITE-ING (Note to self.)

Self Critique and the Road to the End
Fellow writer and friend, J. Rushing said all the right things to motivate me today. He has a delightful blog and his reminisce/advice here is beautiful prose in and of itself aside from its obvious extrinsic value. Looking forward to more from him soon.

Cildaire, a Fledgling World: A History
Nope. I don’t think I’ve linked to Drew enough. Why do you ask? Just one of his many talents, Drew Gerken, is a master worldbuilder. Check out this first post in a series that promises to keep your creative juices flowing.

CREATIVITY/INSPIRATION

David Bowie on Stardust
Going back to the father of the link pack on this one. Great way to send him off, K. M. What a week. Bowie and Rickman. A couple of gentlemen I admired for years. Bowie, though, was an inspiration as an artist AND a creative. Rest in peace, fellas.

SCIENCEY

NASA’s Propellantless EM Drive
The article is a little dense; click at your own risk. The gist is this: a drive for spaceflight that doesn’t require propellant means we could create generational extra-solar colonization spaceships. We could send people to other planets! It would take multiple lifetimes to get there, but we could do it! This is not science fiction, folks.

Nadine the Human Robot
It’s a good thing this needs no words because I have none.

GIF OF THE WEEK

rickman.gif